Fleischer Studios: ​The Dog Days

Max Fleischer’s great granddog Angel, with her family Mark and Susan Fleischer. Mark (Max's grandson) is Head of Fleischer Studios.

Essie (Max Fleischer's wife) with Bimbo

​From the nameless dog who spoke the first-ever synchronized words in animation history; to Betty Boop’s “boyfriend” Bimbo; to the real life Bimbo (the Fleischer family dog, right); and Angel (left) currently bringing her own special brand of canine love and affection to Max’s grandson Mark Fleischer, now Head of Fleischer Studios, and his wife Susan, dogs have always been an important part of the Fleischer Studios family.

In celebration of spring, and inspired by our love of man’s best friend, this exciting new exhibit features one of the earliest extant examples of Max Fleischer's animation, never-seen-before home movie footage, and the story of a real-life puppy by the name of Betty Boop who just recently joined the ranks of Fleischer dogs.

We hope you'll enjoy this playful romp into the history of the Fleischers' wonderful and wacky world through the eyes of man’s best friend, his most hilarious prankster and, at times, his most mischievous nemesis.

The Clown's Pup

The very first dog to appear in a Fleischer film may well be the rotund pup seemingly drawn by Koko himself in The Clown's Pup, one of Max Fleischer's earliest animated cartoons, created in 1919.

We are thrilled, thanks to animation historian Ray Pointer, to be able to share this marvelous and extremely rare film with you in its entirety. Although this version of the film includes music, the original film would have been silent. As Ray Pointer points out in regard to this film:

The importance of film preservation is vital to the survival of Max Fleischer's work. Only half his work for Bray is known to survive, including only 10 of the 20 Out of the Inkwell films. The earliest and the rarest is The Clown's Pup. It has survived through several generations of duping on cheap Home Movie releases. Here is the best I can do with it until a better print source surfaces.

It's interesting to note that the running time for this film is not quite 3 minutes - half the time of the standard films that usually ran 6-7 minutes. As the opening credits point out, Max did all the drawings for this by himself - working, of course, with his brother Dave whose early clown antics formed the basis of the Koko the Clown character.

Film strip from an early Fleischer film starring Koko and Fitz. Courtesy Wikipedia Commons

fITZ

In 1923 the Studio hired Dick Huemer as Head Animator. Huemer brought with him his own personal style, which you can see in the slight variation in Koko’s appearance. But the biggest contribution Huemer made was to give Koko an animated partner in crime, a mischievous little white dog with a black spot on his back: Fitz!

It was 1919 when Koko the Clown first amazed early film audiences. The early Koko films featured the antics and adventures of Koko and his real-life creator Max Fleischer. An animated Koko would appear to leap out of his inkwell into the world where he would quickly proceed to cause real-world trouble for Max. Originally Max himself drew all the animation, but it wasn’t long before Koko’s popularity led to increased demand, and the need for staff.

Koko and Fitz in Koko's Earth Control (1927)

Fitz and Ko-ko in Fadeaway

Koko and Fitz were a perfect team for trouble. Fitz was very clearly a dog, but he often walked on two feet instead of four and had a number of seemingly human abilities that enabled him to lead Koko into even more troublesome and complex adventures.

In the 1926 cartoon Ko-Ko the Convict, Koko and Fitz cause trouble not only for Max, but also for a real-life dog. This combination of animation with real world action and the Fleischers' own wacky brand of shape-shifting, boundary crossing and unapologetic urban grit offer a very clear example of the East Coast style of animation.

One of the major, and most readily apparent, differences between East and West Coast animation can be seen in the treatment of animals. While Disney cartoons tended to feature farm-like animals in rural settings, East Coast animators like those at Fleischer Studios were working with animals like Fitz who were tough and gritty and inhabited the urban landscape in which they lived. Like Fitz, East Coast animals tended to interact with humans as equals, even having romantic relationships with each other, as we’ll see a little later in the case of Betty Boop and her boyfriend, Bimbo.

Fitz also went on to star in a number of the Fleischers' innovative Screen Songs. Featuring one of Fleischers' own inventions, the ‘bouncing ball,’ this crowd-pleasing series of films encouraged audiences to sing-a-long with popular songs by “following the bouncing ball.” The ‘ball,’ which at times might cleverly transform into a character like Fitz, would bounce on top of the words in time with the music, enabling the audience to sing along in unison, as can be seen here in the wonderfully inventive 1929 film I’m Afraid to Go Home in the Dark, featuring Fitz.

The Dog Without a Name

He may not have had a name, but the dog featured in the Fleischers' 1926 film My Old Kentucky Home holds a very special place in animation history. One of the challenges in early sound film was matching, or synchronizing, a character’s mouth movement with the words they were speaking. Utilizing what was, at the time, cutting-edge technology designed by famed sound pioneer Lee DeForest, the Fleischers released My Old Kentucky Home in June 1926. In that film an unnamed dog speaks the first synchronized words ever spoken by an animated character: Follow the Bouncing Ball and join in everybody! With that one seemingly simple sentence, animation history was made!

The Many Faces of Bimbo

With sound came the popularity of the ‘talkies.’ The Fleischers quickly decided to shift their focus to sound cartoons, introducing their Talkartoon series in 1929. A year into the series, in the fourth Talkartoon film, a new dog appeared: Bimbo.

In his first film appearance, Bimbo is an all-white dog, like Fitz, but his personality and design are entirely different. Max Fleischer’s son, Richard (Dick) Fleischer described Bimbo as "…a tougher, cigar chewing, somewhat lecherous, piano-playing jazz hound…” Fleischer animator Shamus Culhane wrote that "Though he seems to have been a dog…he only vaguely looked like a dog and always walked around on his hind legs.”

Generally drawn with a bowler hat and featuring a bulbous black nose, Bimbo behaves very much like a human, albeit a racy one. In his first film, Hot Dog (1930), he drives over the speed limit in hot pursuit of a well-endowed lady, is arrested, and when brought to court makes the most of the Fleischers' new Talkartoon sound series, whipping out a banjo and playing a tune that quickly has the whole courtroom hopping!

These images from Max Fleischer's Cartoon Lesson Book, a popular guidebook for amateur artists, offers instructions on how to draw Bimbo

One of the intriguing things about Bimbo’s early films is how completely his appearance seems to vary from picture to picture. The truth is that the kind of visual consistency we expect today wasn’t considered important in the early days of animation. It likely wasn’t surprising to audiences that a character’s appearance seemed to change from one film to the next. In one cartoon Bimbo might be a white dog, in another film a black dog. Historian Ray Pointer notes that Bimbo’s appearance continued to vary until 1931. The version of Bimbo that appeared in The Herring Murder Casebecame the standard and best known version of Bimbo: a short, round, black dog who behaved like a human.

Bimbo was still the star of the Talkartoons series in August 1930 when the script for Dizzy Dishes called for a female entertainer to play opposite him. This new character, a sexy singer with a bouncy behind, was mostly human but had long floppy dog-like ears. To look at her now, there is no doubt that this flirty singer sporting fashion-forward pin curls and a short black dress would soon be known to the world as Betty Boop. Betty’s popularity caught on like wildfire and soon she was receiving star billing, with her boyfriend Bimbo in a supporting role. By 1932 Betty was so popular that the Talkartoon series was re-named the Betty Boop series.

The fact that Betty eventually lost her floppy ears and became 100% human while Bimbo remained a dog didn’t seem to bother audiences. Neither did the fact that Betty’s dog-boyfriend wore a sweater and shoes, but no pants. People seemed to accept that Betty lived in a cartoon world where anything was possible!

This, however, was not a view shared by the drafters of the Motion Picture Production Code. Adopted by the film industry in 1930 (though not fully enforced until 1934), the Code sought to clean up the film industry by censoring work that was deemed to be immoral or overly suggestive. In light of these new guidelines, Betty’s relationship with Bimbo was very questionable indeed, even raising questions of bestiality. Quite simply: Bimbo had to go.

In the film Is My Palm Read, currently featured in our online theater, the Fleischer animators are clearly taking advantage of what they know is one of their last opportunities to release a film prior to the enforcement of the Production Code rules. You can click here to watch and learn more fun facts about Is My Palm Read in our online Theater.

Shortly after, in 1933, Bimbo makes his last film appearance in the film I Heard.

Pudgy

In 1934, with the new moral guidelines for films in effect, Betty’s world changed. Her clothes became much more modest, and they had to stop periodically flying off her body. Instead of singing in nightclubs, she had more respectable jobs like homemaker or teacher or even dishwasher. And instead ofdating a dog, she had one as a pet.

Pudgy made his very first film appearance in the 1934 film Betty Boop’s Little Pal and continued as a regular co-star until almost her last film in the late 1930s. Pudgy and Betty had a much more appropriate dog/human relationship. Pudgy was without doubt Betty’s pet. He even had a dog-girlfriend, ‘Snooty,’ who was owned by a Mrs Fritzy Prissy. Snooty made her first appearance in Little Nobody in which Pudgy saves her from going over a waterfall.

With the enforcement of the Production Code, a new, more demure incarnation of Betty emerged. That this Betty didn’t have the same adult-audience appeal should be no big surprise, and neither should the fact that the change in Betty was followed by a change in the make-up of her audience. Geared toward a younger viewer, Pudgy was an endearing and very innocently mischievous pup. It wasn’t long before he was co-starring with Betty, at times even getting star billing. Pudgy enjoyed a long period of popularity from 1934 to 1939 when he made his last film appearance in The Scared Crows.

Myron Waldman, the Fleischer Studios Head Animator who created Pudgy, was the Head Animator for most of the Pudgy films and also had the distinction of overseeing more Betty Boop films than any other Studio animator, including this marvelous film: Pudgy Picks a Fight.

When he died in 2006 at the age of 97, the Associated Press reported that Myron Waldman was the last surviving Head Animator from Fleischer Studios. After his death, Myron’s son, Steven wrote that:

It was shortly after midnight Saturday Feb. 4, 2006, my father legendary Fleischer animator Myron Waldman passed away, When my brother Robert arrived, he pointed out dad's final resting position had his right hand as if he was holding a pencil and his left hand flat as if he was holding paper. What made this night even more strange was when Mom told me to inform the nurses station of Dad’s passing, the nurse that came on duty at 11:30 was wearing a Betty Boop/Pudgy scrub outfit. Needless to say I was stunned. I asked her why she was wearing this outfit, she said ”I love Betty Boop especially that little dog,” I replied that the man that drew Betty Boop and created her dog just passed away in the hospice on this floor! She had no idea that Dad was there. She was shocked! It seemed Dad had his last act! RIP. We Miss You!!!!!

Fun Facts

Did you know that the animated character Bimbo was named after the Fleischers' real life dog? Bimbo was the name of a rambunctious Belgian Griffon that belonged to Max's son, Dick. In this intimate 1932 home movie, Max, wife Essie, daughter Ruth and her husband (Fleischer Studios Head Animator) Seymour Kneitel have all traveled to Twin Lake-Awanee Camp in Brandon, Vermont to visit Max's then 16-year-old son Dick. Of course they brought Dick's dog Bimbo along, as well as Ruth's puppy, Ruffy.This rare glimpse into Fleischer family life reveals a relaxed Max, allowing himself to be silly and playful, although even on vacation he dresses like a gentleman in long sleeves, tie, and suspenders. This is very true to form. Max loved work and so he rarely vacationed and was rarely seen dressed in the kind of casual summer clothes that everyone else seems to be wearing. There's even a moment, early on in this clip, in which his entire family seems to be trying to get him out of his office clothes.

Animator Seymour Kneitel could never resist decorating a mailing envelope, like this one to his wife Ruth.

Betty Boop helps an adorable pup get on the right foot

Betty Boop, Pudgy and... Betty Boop!

In January 2015 this adorable pup, missing one of her back paws, was found wandering the streets of Chicago and taken to PAWS Chicago, a no-kill animal shelter, where she was given the name Betty Boop.

Later that month, Chicago's FOX 32 shared Betty's story and invited its viewers to donate towards the cost of providing Betty with a prosthetic paw - and that's where we come in.

When we at Fleischer Studios heard this story, we knew exactly what Betty Boop herself would do; and so that's exactly what we did! We reached out to PAWS and donated the entire cost for the puppy's prosthesis.